...........................................................................................................................................
The Poetry Of.
Laura A. Lionello.............................................
Amphibian Children
On land we were plodded, planked,
padding on packed earth to the metal
pier. Amphibian children
with cold toes wiggling like plump,
pink worms through the soil.
We waded into the ripped river,
waist high in the murk,
and we were still and thought that
nothing worth moving us could
move us except the tide.
The erosion we bet on:
which of us would be the last
to dissolve, the first to settle
into sediment, and which
would simply petrify
into dry clumps on the bank-
not even bothering
to die completely.
Sweeping up swarms of tadpoles
into plastic cups, the two
or three that escaped our make-
shift aquariums. We could
have streamed with them through the cracks in the dam.
Boys I Like V
With fire smile all split
lip, a heart burn, dragonfly
fingertips, I reach
for all those mechanical
lovers stuffed under the bed.
The Extraction
What a jolt.
That sledgehammer pounding
my nailhead tooth,
the gloss all broken away
but for one diamond dunt,
a glint like a pupil-
hurricane white
surrounded by gangly death.
Little hunchback
the decay has taken over.
Your cavity bores
all the way down to the nerve.
The roots of your wisdom tooth
are false tails
loose threads.
They will have to pull it.
Needle sweet
Novocain treat
my wolf lung swells
at oncoming pliers.
The extraction is complete and
I am one member less.
The blood moat in my jaw is
sopped up with gauze.
Sutures pulled tight.
Decay removed, I am made right.
